Draw-bench and sizing-rolls.



` Patented Dec. I6, |902. P. C. PATTERSUN &. J. VJ. BAX.

DRAW BENCH AND SIZING ROLLS.

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Patented nec. la, |902'. P.' c. PATTEnsnN a. .1. .1. BoAx. DRAW BENCHAND SiZING ROLLS.

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No. 7:5853. Patented nec. is, |902. P.,C. PATTERSUN d'. J. J. BDAX. nnAw-ENcH'AuD slzlus noLLs.

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ZI/zz @qu ew. 1 1 ventana' No. 715,853. Patsnted Dec. I6, |902. P. c.PATTERSON & J. .1. BoAx. DRAW. BENCH AND SIZING ROLLS.

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No. 75,853. I Patented Dec. I6, |902.

P. C. PATTERSON &.VJ. J. BOAX. DRAW BENCH AND SIZING ROLLS.

(Appucmm am nb. nu. 1902,) um maal.) l 5 sheets-shut s.

UNITED STATES 'n PATENT OFFICE',y

PETER O. PATTERSON AND JOHN J. BOAX, OF MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA,ASSIGNORS TO NATIONAL TUBE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENN SYLVA- NIA, ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

DRAW-BENCH AND SIZING-ROLLS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 715,853, dated December16, 1902. Application llled February 25,1902. Serial N- 95,532. KNOmodel.)

To @ZZ whom, t may concern,.-

Be it known that we, PETER C. PATTERSON and JOHN J. BOAX, residents ofMcKeesport, in the county of Allegheny and State of Penn- Sylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Draw-Benches and Sizing-Rolls;and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

Our invention relates to apparatus for form- Io ing butt-weld tubing,and more especially for forming such tubing of more than single standardlength, although it is equally applicable for forming either butt or lapWeld tubing of any length. The object of our invention is to provideapparatus for this purpose whereby the tube after being welded istransferred to the sizing-trough and thence to the sizing-rolls entirelyby mechanical means, thereby dispensing with the hand labor usuzo allyemployed.

In the formation of butt-weld tubing the most approved practice is tocharge flat plates into the furnace through the rear end thereof andafter they have been raised to a welding heat to seize the front end ofsaid plates with tongs or othersuitable pipe-drawing tool, slip a bellover said tongs, and then connect the latter to a suitable drawingapparatus, preferably a continuously running draw- 3o chain, whereby theplate is pulled out of the furnace and through the welding-bell, beingthereby bent up into tubular form and having its edges butt-weldedtogether. To insure a practically continuous operation of the weldingapparatus, it is the practice to have a number of plates heatingsimultaneously in the furnace, said plates lying side by side upon thefurnace-hearth. It is necessary to bring the plates in line with thedrawing mech- 4o anism or the drawing mechanism in line with the platesin order to properly draw the latter out of the furnace. The latterconstruction is usually followed, and the draw-bench is either pivotedso thatits forward end can swing in front of the furnace or else theentire bench is made laterally movable in front of the furnace. From thedraw-bench the tube passes to the sizing-trough,which is stationary andgenerally provided with power-driven 5o rollers which feed the tube tothe sizing-rolls.

Aseries of telescoping rods or skids connects the stationarysizingtrough and movable draw-bench, and the practice is for a workmanto seize one end of the tube and throw it from the bench onto the skids,on which it rolls to the sizing-trough. This results in somewhat bendingthe tube and always necessitates an additional workman. Furthermore, ithas recently been proposed to form tubes of double standard lengths,thus mak- 6o ing tubes from thirty-eight to forty feet long. It isimpossible to transfer such long tubes from the draw-bench to the skidsby seizing the tube at one end, so that two workmen vwill be necessaryto do the work. Furthermore, with such long tubes there is liability ofbending or marring the same to such an extent as to form defectivetubing.

The object of our invention is to overcome the foregoing difficultiesand objections, and 7o to this endv we provide apparatus whereby thetube is 'transferred from the movable drawbench `to the stationarysizing-rolls by mechanical means entirely, thereby doing away with thehand labor now employed and making it possible to transfer tubes of anylength without danger of injuring the same.

In carrying out our invention we connect the sizing-trough to thedraw-bench, so as to be movable therewith, and provide suitable 8omechanism, preferably chains, for transferring the pipe from the benchto the sizingtrough. From the sizing-trough the tube is guided bysuitable means into the sizingrolls and goes thence to thestraighteningrolls.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a diagrammatic plan view ofour invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the apparatus, taken nearthe actuating-cylinders. Figs. 3, 9o 3a, and 3b show a plan of theapparatus on an enlarged scale. Figs. 4, 4a, and 4b show a sideelevation on an enlarged scale, and Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional viewof one of the cylinders. y The welding-furnace is shown at 1, and thismay be of any preferred type, preferably being heated by gas and of theregenerative type, having the air and gas ports 2 at the sides of thehearth 3. This hearth is of suroo cient width to receive a series ofplates 4 side by side, seven such plates being shown in the drawings;but the number may be either more or less, depending upon the size andthickness of the plates and the rapidity of the Welder. The front wallof the furnace is provided with the usual opening 5, through which theplates are withdrawn.

The drawing apparatus may be of any preferred type, that shown in thedrawings comprising a bench 6, having a continuouslyrunning draw-chain7, connected in the usual way to sprocket-wheels 8 at the ends of thebench. The rear sprocket-wheel S will be power-driven from any suitablesource, such as the electric motor 9, which is connected to saidsprocket-wheel by any suitable intermediate gearing. The usual monkey orhook will be used for connecting the tongs to the chain. The forward endof the bench will be provided with a suitable holder 10 for thewelding-bell. This bench will preferably be movable in front of thefurnace, so as to be brought into line with any of the plates in thefurnace, and for this purpose the entire bench may be movabletransversely; but preferably the bench will be of the pivoted type, asshown, being pivoted at its rear end at 11 and being mounted uponsuitable rollers or supports 12, so that the forward end can swing infront of the furnace. The construction thus far described is old andwell known and a further description thereof is not necessary.

The sizing-trough is shown at 13, and this may be of the usualconstruction and provided at intervals with the power-driven rollers 14foi` feeding the tube forward. The sizing-rolls are shown at 15,substantially in line with the sizing-trough, and to the rear of theseis another trough 16, leading to the straightening-rolls. All of t-heseparts may be of the usual const-ruction and need not be furtherdescribed. Instead of making this sizing-trough stationary, as is nowthe practice, we connect the same to the bench 6, so as to be movabletherewith. Any suitable connection that will secure this object may beused; but preferably the bench and sizingtrough are mounted on a singlecarriage. We have therefore provided a series of frames or housings 17,six being shown, whichconuect the draw-bench and sizing-trough and whichare provided with the wheels 12, running upon the mill-door. Thesewheels are set at angles which vary in extent with the axle of eachwheel pointing toward the pivotal point 11 of the bench and trough, sothat the utmost freedom of movement is secured. The sizingtrough anddraw-bench are also connected by a series of bars 20, sloping from thedrawbench toward the sizing-trough. For transferring the tubes from thedraw-bench to the sizing-trough we provide a series of chains 22, havingfingers or projections 23 for engaging the tubes and passingatone endoversprocketwheels 24, journaled below the draw-bench,

and at their opposite ends over sprocket- Wheels 25, secured to apositively-driven shaft 26, mounted at the side of the sizing-trough andextending the entire length of the apparatus. These chains are guided bytransverse bars 27, supported upon the longitudinal beams 28. The endsof the chains nearest the draw-bench are considerably below the top ofsaid bench, as shown in Fig. 2, and the tubes will easily roll off thebench and down upon the inner ends of the transverse bars 20, whencethey will roll onto the chains and be carried thereby and deposited inthe sizing-trough 13.

The two central frames or housings 17 are extended beyond thesizing-trough and support a platform 30, upon which is mounted the motoror motors for driving the various mechanisms. We have shown for thispurpose a single electric motor 3l, the armatureshaft of which isconnected by suitable intermediate gearing with both the transferchains22 and the rollers 14 in the sizingtrough. This intermediate gearing maybe of various kinds and, as shown, comprises a pair of spur-gears 32 and33, loosely mounted on the motor-shaft, one of which, as the gear 33,meshes with a gear 34 on a longitudinal shaft 35, provided with a seriesof beveled pinions 36, meshing with similar pinions secured to the shaftof the rollers 14. The gear 32 meshes with a gear 37, loosely mounted onthe shaft 35 and connected by intermediate gears 3S and 39 with a gear40, fast on the shaft 26, from which the transfer-chains are positivelydriven. The gears 32 and 33 are loosely mounted on the armature-shaft ofthe motor, but are adapted to be connected thereto by the clutches 43and 44, so that the transfer-chains and the rollers 14 are at all timesunder the control of the operator. This is necessary from the fact thatthe tubes may have to be held in the sizing-trough waiting for thesizing or straightening-rollers to become vacant, and this maynecessitate a holding of other tubes on the transfer-chains. Theclutches will preferably be of the friction type, so that thesemechanisms may be driven at slow speed, if desired. This is especiallyimportant with the transfer-chains, as said chains can by this means bedriven very slowly or in an intermittent manner, so as to practicallystore up a number of tubes thereon.

As the sizing-trough swings with the bench, it will not always bedirectly in line with the sizing-rolls, but will be at various anglesthereto. Consequently some means must be employed for guiding the tubesfrom the trough to the rolls. To this end the rear end of the trough iswidened slightly, as shown at 46, and between the same and thesizingrolls is a funnel-shaped guide-spout 47, having its larger enddirected toward the sizingtrough and of such a size as to receive the pipe from the same, no matter at what angle the trough may be. Thesmaller end of the IOO IIO

guide is in proximity to the sizing-rolls and the aXis of said guide isdirectly in line with the pass of said rolls. This funnel 47 ispreferably made in two sections united by the lugs and pins 49, and itis both vertically and laterally adjustable, the vertical adjustmentbeing secured by mounting the same on the y upper ends of the screws 50,which project down through threaded collars 5l on the standards 52. Thelateral adjustment is attained by securing the standards 52 toabaseplate 53 by means of T- headed bolts, the heads of which lie inundercut grooves 54 in said base-plate. To the rear of the sizingrollsis a straightening-nozzle 55, which is also vertically and laterallyadjustable by the same means as described in connection with theguide-spout. This nozzle will receive the pipe from the sizing-rolls andstraighten it sufficiently so that it will run easily in thestraightening-trough 16.

The draw-bench and sizing-trough' may be swung about the pivot ll by anysuitable power mechanism, and for this purpose we use hydrauliccylinders, two such rcylinders being shown at 56 and 57. These cylindersare of the usual single-acting type and are set in pits below the floorof the mill and have their piston-rods connected to suitable hangers onthe draw-bench. Wehave shown the same connected to a hanging frame 58,secured to the lower side of the platform 30, the piston-rods of the twocylinders being connected to opposite sides of said hanger by universaljoints 59. The inner ends of these piston-rods are connected to thepistons 60 by similar universal joints 6l, and to permit the swinging ofthe piston-rods without leakage a tube 62 is connected to the piston andprojects through the stufng-box 63 in the head of the cylinder, saidtube being of such length and diameter as to permit the full swing ofthe draw-bench. The cylinders 56 and 57 are not at right angles to theaxis of the draw-bench; but each of said cylinders has its axis at rightangles to a line drawn from the pivot 1l through the point at which thepiston-rod of the corresponding cylinder is connected to the hanger 58.By this arrangement the cylinders` will always act in a direction toutilize their greatest efficiency,

and danger of bending the piston-rods is avoided.

The operation of the mechanism will be gathered from the foregoingdescription and need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that thetube will be drawn in the ordinary way andthen rolled oif the bench ontothe skids or supports 20, from which they will pass to the chains 22,and these chains will carry the tubes at any desired speed, eithercontinuously or intermittently, dependingv upon the operation of theclutch 43, and deposit the same in the sizing-trough. From this troughthe tubes will be conveyed by the power-driven rollers 14 to thesizing-rolls, being directed by the spout 47 into the pass of saidrolls,I passing through and beingstraightened by the nozzle 54 at therear thereof. Whenever the draw-bench is moved laterally, thesizing-trough is moved therewith, and the transfer mechanism operatesthe same in all positions of the bench. The operation of this mechanismis under the control of a single person stationed on the platform 30,and the usual hand labor in transferring the pipe is dispensed with. Thetelescoping skids now used, and which easily get out of repair, are alsodispensed with, and liability of injuring the tubes by bending orotherwise is avoided.

What we claim is- 1. In apparatus for making butt-weld tubing, thecombination with a furnace, of a draw-bench in front of the same, asizingtrough and sizing-rolls, and power-operated transfer mechanismbetween the draw-bench and the trough for engaging the tubes andcarrying them to and depositing them in the trough.

2. In apparatus for making butt-weld tubing, the combination with afurnace, of a draw-bench movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough and sizing-rolls, and power-operated transfer mechanismbetween the draw-bench and trough for engaging the tubes and carryingthem to and depositing them in the trough.

3. In apparatus for making butt-weld tubing, the combination with afurnace, of welding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough and sizing-rolls, and power-operated transfer mechanismcarried by the laterally-movable welding mechanism for engaging thetubes and carrying them to and depositing them in the trough.

4. In apparatus for making butt-weld tubing, the combination with afurnace, of welding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with the welding mechanism, andsizing-rolls mounted in stationary bearings.

5. In apparatus for making tubing,the combination with the furnace, ofwelding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, andasizing-trough connected to and movable with said welding mechanism.

6. In apparatus for makingtubing, the coinbination with the furnace, ofwelding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with said welding mechanism, andmechanism for transferring the tube from the welding mechanism to thesizing-trough.

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7. Inapparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofwelding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with said welding mechanism, andsizingrolls.

8. In apparatus for making tubing, thecombination with the furnace, ofwelding mechanism movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable ,with said welding mechanism,mechanism for transferring the tube from the welding mechanism to thesizing-trough, and sizing-rolls.

9. In apparat-us for making tubing, the combination with the furnace,ofa welding-bench movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with said bench, sizing-rolls,and aguide between said trough and sizing-rolls.

10. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa weldingbench movable laterally in frontof the same, a sizing-troughconnected to and movable with said bench, sizing-rolls, a guide-spoutbetween said trough and rolls, and means for adjusting said spoutvertically and laterally.

11. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, a sizing-troughconnected to and movable with said bench, sizing-rolls, a guide-spoutbetween the trough and rolls, and a straightening-nozzle to the rear ofsaid rolls.

12. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa pivoted Welding-bench in front of the same, asizingtrough connected toand movable with said bench, and mechanism for transferring the tubefrom said bench to said trough.

13. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa pivoted welding-bench in front of the same, a sizingtrough connectedto and movable with said bench, stationary sizing-rolls, and means forguiding the tube from said trough to said rolls.

14. In apparatus for forming tubing, the combination with the furnace,of a weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with said bench, and power-drivenchains for transferring the tube from the bench to the trough.

15. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa Weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, a sizing-troughconnected to and movable with said bench, power-driven feeding-rollersin said trough, and power-driven chains for transferring the tube fromthe bench to the trough.

16. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa weldingbench movable laterallyin front of the same, a sizing-troughconnected to and movable with said bench, power -driven chains fortransferring the pipe from the bench to the trough, a motor mounted onsaid bench, and suitable gearing between said motor and said chains.

17. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa Weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, l

a sizing-trough connected to and movable with said bench,feedingrollersin said trough, a motor mounted on the bench, and gearing between saidmotor and said rollers.

1S. In apparatus for making tubing, the combination with the furnace, ofa weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, a sizing-troughconnected to and movable with said bench,feedingrollers in saidsizingtrough, chains or the like for transferring the tube from thebench to the trough, a motor mounted on said bench, gearing between saidmotor and said chains and between said motor and the rollers in saidtrough, and clutches in each of said trains of gearing.

19. In apparatus for forming tubing, the combination with the furnace,of a Weldingbench movable laterally in front of the same, asizing-trough connected to and movable with said bench, and hydrauliccylinders for swinging said draw-bench, said cylinders being connectedto the bench and trough near their middle.

20. In apparatus for forming tubing, the combination with the furnace,of a weldingbench in front of the same and pivoted at the center line ofsaid bench, a sizing-trough secured to one side of said bench and movingtherewith, and hydraulic cylinders having their piston-rods connected tothe bench and trough at one side of the axis of the bench, the axis ofeach of said cylinders being at right angles to a line drawn from thepivotal point of the bench to the points of attachment of thepiston-rods of the respective cylinders to said bench.

2l. In apparatus for forming tubing, the combination with the furnace,of a combined draw-bench, sizing-trough and transferring mechanism, andwheels upon which the same are mounted,said combined bench and troughbeing pivoted at the center line of the bench and said wheels havingtheir axles pointing toward said pivot.

22. In apparatus for forming tubing, the combination with the furnace,of a pivotal welding-bench in front of the same, a hydraulic cylinderhaving its piston-rod connected to said bench, universal connectionsbetween said piston-rod and the bench and the piston-rod and the piston,and a tube connected to the piston to surround the pistonrod andprojecting through the head of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof we, the said PETER C. PATTERSON and JOHN J.BOAX,have hereunto set our hands.

PETER C. PATTERSON. JOHN J. BOAX. Vitnesses:

ROBERT C. TOTTEN, F. W. WINTER.

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